Catalan Modernism: Origins, Evolution, and Cultural Impact
Catalan Modernism: A Cultural Revolution
Modernism is a cultural movement that emerged in the West during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It is often associated with artistic currents, particularly architecture and decoration, known as Art Nouveau, Modern Style, etc. It is characterized by the prominence of curved lines, rich and detailed decoration, frequent use of plant motifs, refined aestheticism, and dynamic forms. It represented a rejection of the mechanistic approach of industrial civilization and the treatment of art as a mere commodity.
The Solution to Cultural Decline
Catalan modernists proposed embracing everything modern as a solution to perceived cultural decline. This idea was fully articulated in Jaume Brossa’s article, “Living in the Past,” published in L’Avenç on August 2, 1892. This article is considered the starting point of modernism in Catalan culture, clearly defining its goals: to bridge the gap between regional Catalan literature and other European literatures. The aim was to align with the purest European trends and translate leading contemporary authors into Catalan, thereby enriching and expanding Catalan literature.
The Starting Point of Modernism
At the end of the nineteenth century, the realist novel in Europe faced a crisis. There was a growing disbelief in the novel’s ability to accurately analyze and describe everyday reality. The external world was no longer seen as a coherent whole, but rather as a collection of fragmented realities. The narrative proposed a renewal of poetic symbolism, moving away from attempts to simply reflect inner reality. Poetic rhythm, images, and metaphors were incorporated into prose. Novelists sought to create environments and atmospheres for the reader through auditory and visual imagery. The artist had to select suggestive and symbolic aspects to recreate an intense and complete picture of reality for the reader. Beyond classifications of the modernist novel in Catalan literature (rural, decadent, customs, etc.), most of these novels address the problem of individuality, portraying man as a dual being subject to material fate but capable of asserting his will.
Modernism in Andalusia
Modernism in Andalusia extends beyond artistic and cultural attitudes and aesthetic considerations. It encompasses diverse intellectual perspectives adopted by Catalans roughly between 1892 and 1911, all united by the desire to build a national culture open to Europe. It emerged as a movement around 1892, with various groups (art, literature, and music) revolving around a specific program, criticizing excessive worship of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, their ideological conservatism, and their localism.
Language Reform
An example of this cultural desire for modernization was the language reform undertaken by L’Avenç, Joaquim Casas Carbó, Pompeu Fabra, and others. The intention was to adopt a unified orthography for Catalan and establish grammatical criteria to eliminate linguistic anarchy. A unified model of learned language was deemed essential. From 1893, L’Avenç was published in accordance with the standards developed by Pompeu Fabra.
Evolution of Modernism
In 1893, Catalan modernism began to diversify into two groups: one focused on regenerating Catalan life through a program of moral, social, and political reform, and the other, the aesthetes, limiting their activities to the cultural sphere and embracing decadent and symbolist forms. The founding of the magazine Hispania in 1898 represented a unitary movement, with modernist goals aligning with the positive reaction of the Catalan bourgeoisie, who, after a period of political and social crisis, launched a national movement. Around 1909, a new group of young intellectuals emerged, promoting a new image of the artist as an integrated part of the social structure. They founded a new movement, Noucentisme (driven by Eugeni d’Ors), which sought to rectify the paths opened by modernism, rejecting its ideological impetus for rebellion. From 1909, there was a rapid decline of the modernist movement. Many modernist writers in Catalonia abandoned or ceased writing, or remained marginalized. By 1911, modernism had largely ceased to exist as an active movement.